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What Are Astronomers Doing?
Projects
Observing projects scheduled at McDonald Observatory for the week of March 15:
HET Dark Energy Experiment An experiment to determine the nature of “dark energy,” that mysterious force that’s causing the universe’s expansion to speed up, is driving telescope upgrades and the creation of new instruments at McDonald Observatory in West Texas. More »
| Looking for Galactic Streams Small galaxies, called dwarf galaxies, frequently orbit larger galaxies like our Milky Way. Sometimes these dwarf galaxies get pulled into the larger galaxies. This creates tidal streams of stars, which looks like streaks surrounding the galaxy. More »
| NASA Astronomer of the Week:
Bill Cochran McDonald Observatory astronomer Bill Cochran is following up on possible planet discoveries from NASA’s Kepler mission using the 2.7-meter Harlan J. Smith Telescope at McDonald. More »
| Using ‘An Old Pocket Watch’ to Trace Dark Matter University of Texas astronomer Don Winget and his colleagues are about to go one step closer to the solution to one of the biggest mysteries in space today: the identity of dark matter. But the problem with dark matter, Don says, is that it’s, well, dark. He's using a unique property of some special white dwarf stars in a new type of dark matter experiment. More »
|  This program is supported by the National Science Foundation under grant AST 0227870. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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